Comments

Revised Common Lectionary Commentary

Clippings:
Annunciation of our Lord - March 25, 2014

Saint Dominiccontemplating the Scriptures

Author's note:Sometimes I have material left over when I edit Comments down to
fit the available space. This page presents notes that landed on the clipping
room floor. Some may be useful to you. While I avoid technical language
in the Comments (or explain special terms), Clippings may have unexplained
jargon from time to time.

A hypertext Glossary of Terms is integrated with Clippings. Simply
click on any highlighted word in the text and a pop-up window will appear
with a definition. Bibliographic references are also integrated in the
same way.

Isaiah 7:10-14

This passage is set during the
Syro--Ephraimite War (734-733 BC). For historical background, see 2 Kings
16:1-20. [
NOAB] Judah, under Ahaz, appealed to Assyria for help. When Assyrian forces captured
Damascus, they deported its people and killed King Rezin of Syria. Judah ended up
a vassal of Assyria, paying a heavy tribute. Assyria made Galilee and Gilead Assyrian
provinces.

Verse 3: “Shear--jashub”: The name means A remnant shall
return; it is probably symbolic. God has a future purpose for his people that
will not be thwarted by two kings. [
CAB] At worst, God’s promises to David, made via Nathan (see 2 Samuel
7:8-16) will be preserved in the remnant; this is supported by
10:20-23: “On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house
of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the
Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant
of Jacob, to the mighty God.”. On the other hand, the remnant may be
Isaiah and his disciples. [
NOAB]

Verse 3: “the upper pool”: The reservoir south of the Pool
of Siloam. [
NOAB]

Verse 4: “do not fear”: This also fits in with Israel’s
holy--war tradition. Deuteronomy
20:2-4 says: “Before you engage in battle, the priest shall come forward
and speak to the troops, and shall say to them: ‘Hear, O Israel! Today you
are drawing near to do battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart, or be afraid,
or panic, or be in dread of them; for it is the
Lord your God who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to
give you victory.’”. [
NJBC]

Verse 6: “Tabeel”: The name means God is good. [
CAB] Tabeel was a region in northern Transjordan. [
JBC]

Verse 9: “firm in faith”: Calls to faith are characteristic
of Isaiah; sometimes they are in other terminology. In
8:17, the prophet writes: “I will wait for the
Lord, and I will hope in him”. See also
22:11;
28:16;
30:15. [
NJBC]

Verse 9: “you shall not stand at all”:
8:10 says that human counsel will come to “naught” – whereas
Yahweh has his own purpose which he will surely carry out: see also
5:12,
19;
14:24 (“... as I have designed, so it shall be; as I have planned, so shall
it come to pass”).

Verse 14: “young woman”: The Hebrew word is almah.
This word also appears in Genesis
24:43 (“young woman”, Rebekah at the well); Exodus 2:8 (“girl”,
Moses’ sister); Psalm 68:25 and elsewhere – where it is translated
young woman, girl or maiden. [NOAB] The Hebrew word for virgin
is betula. [NJBC]

Verse 15: “curds and honey”:
NOAB suggests that this is simple food for a child being weaned.

Verse 15: “by the time he knows”:
NJBC sees so that he may know as a superior translation.

Verse 17: “the king of Assyria”: An explanatory note added
by a later editor. [
NJBC]

Psalm 45

Superscription: “Of the Korahites”: The Korahites were the
Levitical group responsible for singing in the Temple (2 Chronicles
20:19). They are also mentioned in the superscriptions of Psalms
42;
44;
46-49;
84;
85;
87-88. [
CAB]

Verse 6: “Your throne, O God”: The king seems to be addressed
as God. Kings were seen as divine in other nations in the ancient Near East. This
is the only possible occurrence of this notion in the Bible. This verse is quoted
in Hebrews
1:8. [
NOAB]

Verse 8: “ivory palaces”: 1 Kings
22:39 speaks of the “house” King Ahab built as being an “ivory
house”; Amos
3:15, in predicting the downfall of the king, says “the houses of ivory
shall perish”. [
NOAB]

Verse 12: The bride may be from Tyre (v.
10), or (the Hebrew being obscure), a gift to her may be Tyrian linen. [
NJBC]

Psalm 40

Some argue that this has always been one psalm, despite beginning with thanksgiving
and ending with lament. They note that Psalm
27 also begins with a psalm of confidence and ends with a lament, as does Psalm
89. [
NJBC]

Verses 1-3: In
18:4-6, a psalmist recalls: “The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents
of perdition assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted
me. In my distress I called upon the Lord
; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him
reached his ears”. [
NOAB]

Verse 2: This verse is perhaps unique in progressing from “the desolate
pit” or “miry bog” to “a rock”. To some scholars, it
uses the image of a river ordeal known from Mesopotamian literature: a person accused
of wrong--doing is cast into a river for judgement. If he survives, he is innocent.
See Deuteronomy
22 for another trial by ordeal. [
NJBC]

Verses 6-8: These verses are quoted in Hebrews
10:5-7 (from the
Septuagint translation). There it is as though the psalmist is the Son, speaking
to the Father. [
NOAB]

Verse 6: Although not apparent in translation, four kinds of sacrifice
are mentioned in this verse. For the superiority of obedience to sacrifice, see also
1 Samuel
15:22-23 and Mark
12:33. See also
50:8-15;
51:16,
17; Amos
5:21-24; Hosea
6:6. [
NOAB]

Verse 7: “the scroll of the book”: God’s book of
accounts is also mentioned in
56:8 (“your record”).
139:16 says: “Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were
written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed”.
[
NOAB]

Verse 9: In
22:22, a psalmist makes a vow: “I will tell of your name to my brothers
and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you”. [
NOAB]

Verses 13-17: These verses are almost identical to Psalm
70, with “Lord” (
Yahweh) and “God” (elohim) being interchanged. [
NJBC]

Verse 1: “shadow”: The sense here is foreshadow, rather
than the Platonic heavenly--earthly contrast in
8:5 (“a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one”).
The “good things to come” will come through Christ. Colossians
2:17 says: “These [dietary laws, Jewish feasts, etc.] are only a shadow
of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ”. The annual sacrifices
on the Day of Atonement were not able to remove sin; they simply foreshadowed the
sacrifice of Jesus. [
NJBC]

Verse 2: The author’s argument is weak: even though past sins were
taken away, there were still the sins committed since a year ago. But it is merely
an overstatement of what the author’s faith assures him to be true. [
NJBC]

Verses 3-4: The Day of Atonement rituals reminded worshippers of their
sins, but did not erase them. This statement of the inefficacy of the annual sacrifices
contradicts the belief expressed in Jubilees 5:17-18. But is not clear whether it is God or the worshipper
who remembers the sins. That it is God who remembers is suggested by
8:12; there God says “‘I will remember their sins no more’”;
however, the author would then be saying that the sacrifices served only to remind
God of sin (and thus call forth punishment on the offerer). [
NJBC]

Verses 5-7: The quotation is Psalm
40:6-7. The text roughly follows the
Septuagint translation. In Psalms, “me” is the psalmist (or possibly
Israel in exile); here “me” is Christ at his incarnation. The psalm speaks
of ritual being inferior to obedience, rather than repudiation of sacrifice (as here).
The majority of manuscripts of the Septuagint have for v.
6b: a body you prepared for me rather than “you have given me an
open ear” (which is from the
Masoretic text). The Septuagint translation is particularly applicable to Jesus,
whose obedience was expressed by his willingness to give his body, himself.
[
NJBC]

Verse 13: “wait ...”: Thus the author explains the period
of time between Christ’s enthronement and his second coming. [
NJBC]

Verse 13: “enemies”: The author does not tell us who they
are, unlike Paul in 1 Corinthians
15:24-26: “ after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and
power” and “death”. [
NJBC]

Verse 14: “sanctified”: Through the cleansing of the consciences
that they may worship the living God (
9:14), Jesus has given his followers access to the Father; they share in his
priestly consecration. [
NJBC] The priesthood of all believers is in view.

Verse 19: “confidence to enter the sanctuary”: In
3:6, the author writes: “we are his [Christ’s] house if we hold firm
the confidence and the pride that belong to hope”. See also
4:16;
6:19-20. [
NJBC]

Verse 20: “opened”: The Greek word, enkainizo, can
also mean inaugurate or dedicate. It is translated as inaugurate
in
9:18.

Verse 20: As the “curtain” before the Holy of Holies was an
obstacle to entering it, so too was Christ’s “flesh” (Greek:
sarx). Perhaps the rending of the Temple veil at the death of Jesus is in view:
see Mark
15:38. [
NJBC]

Verse 22: “sprinkled clean”: A metaphor for the purifying
power of Christ (see
9:13). Jewish ritual sprinkling only produced external purity, but those washed
with the blood of Christ are cleansed in their consciences. [
NJBC]

Verse 25: While reticence to gather for worship may have been for fear
of persecution, it is more likely that it was due to lack of enthusiasm for the faith,
bordering on apostasy: part of the reason Hebrews was written. [
NJBC]

Verses 26-31: These verses tell of the fate of the person who willfully
sins. He has a “fearful prospect of judgement”: if you know about Christ
and willfully reject him, you will be punished by God!

Verse 26: “willfully ... sin”: The sin is that of turning
away from Christ, as v.
29 shows. [
NJBC]

Verse 28: Idolatry is probably the violation of the Law. Deuteronomy
17:2-7 prescribes the death penalty for this sin if confirmed by “two or
three witnesses”. [
NJBC]

Luke 1:26-38

Verse 26: “In the sixth month”: Daniel
9:24-27 can be read as saying that 70 weeks (490 days) will elapse between the
beginning of people repenting to the arrival of the new era. Luke probably intended
the following arithmetic: “six months” (180 days) + Mary’s pregnancy
(270 days) + the time from Jesus’ birth to his presentation in the Temple (40
days) = 490 days. Gabriel links the annunciation of Jesus’ birth with John’s
birth. Luke invites reflection on the significance of Jesus’ birth as fulfilment
of the verses in Daniel. [
NJBC]

Verse 26: “Nazareth”: An insignificant village, neither mentioned
in the Old Testament,
Josephus nor rabbinic writings, of some two thousand people. [
HBD]

Verses 31-35: In Romans
1:3-4, Paul writes what is probably a creed from before 50 AD: Jesus was humanly
descended from David and designated as Son of God through the Holy Spirit at his
resurrection. Vv.
31-35 go beyond this: Jesus was designated as Son of God at his conception. So
Mary’s conception is virginal and through the power of the Holy Spirit. [
NJBC]

Verse 31: “Jesus”: This is the Greek form of the Hebrew name
Joshua. The Hebrew and Aramaic forms of Jesus and he will save are
similar. [
NOAB] To
NJBC, the name means God saves.

Verses 32-33: The rest of this book spells out how Jesus is king, especially
how he embodies God’s kingdom, which has come for outcasts. Jesus is often
called king in the Passion story (e.g. in
23:2-3,
37-38), a time when his power is apparently at an all--time low. [
NJBC]